NEWSMAX: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he’s going to recommend the White House make recess appointments of all 90 outstanding executive nominees if the GOP doesn’t cooperate with him on confirmation through the Senate’s advise and consent function.
“If something doesn’t break here I am going to recommend to the president that he recess-appoint all of these nominees,” said Reid. “[E]very single one. It’s not as if there isn’t some way to respond to this.”..
Meanwhile, Sen. Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, is warning that the move could relegate the Senate’s Constitutional “advise and consent” function to the dustbins of history… (more)
WIKIPEDIA: A recess appointment is the appointment, by the President of the United States, of a senior federal official while the U.S. Senate is in recess. The U.S. Constitution requires that the most senior federal officers must be confirmed by the Senate before assuming office, but while the Senate is in recess the President often acts alone by making a recess appointment. To remain in effect a recess appointment must be approved by the Senate by the end of the next session of Congress, or the position becomes vacant again; in current practice this means that a recess appointment must be approved by roughly the end of the next calendar year. Recess appointments are authorized by Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution…
EDITOR: The Senate has an obligation to “advise and consent” top appointees. When the Republicans obstruct all appointments, they are trashing the Constitution, not the president.
